259l. Dorothea Veit to Rahel Levin in Berlin: Jena, 28 April 1800 [*]
Jena, 28 April 1800
Do come, my dear, good child! All of us here (the well-meaning ones, that is) will warmly welcome you, and will view it as one of your grandest favors if you genuinely do bring your plan about rather than merely dream about it and, indeed, have us dream about it. [1]
You will probably not find Karoline here on your arrival, since she will be departing (soit dit entre nous) [2] with Schelling. After everything I will be telling you in person, you should doubtless rejoice more than grieve at not finding her here. That said, you can be all the more certain of enjoying an unrestrained, straightforward, honest, open reception from the others among us. Charlotte Ernst is expected here next month. You already know her, and I for my part am anxious to make her acquaintance. I myself will remain here as long as you want. [3]
Bring Line with you, [4] but a manservant would likely be completely superfluous, since the grand business of couriers is not an issue here.
You will certainly not be needing all that much money. If Line takes care of her own board and secures your breakfast, you can give me 2 Carolins per month for lunch and dinner board, the same as 13 Reichsthaler. That is how much I myself am currently giving the Schlegels; once Caroline has left, I will be running the household, at least until St. John’s Day; we can decide together and in person what we all want to do afterward, whether stay here until Michaelis [Michaelmas] or travel to a mineral-springs spa. [5]
Write me immediately whether I am to rent you a furnished apartment. Everything in the house here is reserved because of Madam Ernst’s arrival. There are quite nice garden apartments here, simply write and let me know how many rooms you need and how high the price can be.
But by all means be prepared to renounce all other distractions and entertainment except for art, poesy, wit, and a charming, multifarious landscape and the most charming springtime your imagination could ever paint for you!
Green velvet carpets ascending the gentle hills, embroidered with violets, cowslips, and primroses and permeated by a thousand fragrant herbs; all the trees in the most glorious blossom; lilacs and mayflowers in thick bunches; a kind of willow of the sort I have never before seen and whose blossoms smell like oranges, are everywhere, in all the meadows and hills. The rushing, animated river, bright as a mirror; warm from one morning to the next; breezes caressing you softly, tepidly, dreamily, and resting quietly on the hills like a coverlet; and as a change of pace once in a while a couple of hours of the warmest, most salutary rain; and green colors of the sort Berliners cannot, simply cannot imagine [6] —
That, at the least, is what I can promise you here. For me it is an entirely new experience to see that there really and truly is a springtime on earth. Only please do come, you can also bathe here quite easily, and drink Pyrmonter; I intend to do so as well as soon as Karoline is gone. I will respond to everything else in person, yes, in person, I am as excited as a child!
Only please do write me and tell me return post whether I should rent something for you and when you will be coming.
Friedrich the Divine went by foot today to Weimar to see Father Goethe, or God the Father; otherwise he would have written you himself to tell you about his delight at your plans. [7] So let me do it in his name and send you his warmest regards.
Wilhelm also sends his warm regards. He recalls (he has charged me with telling you) with great fondness the days he spent with you in Dresden. [8] Although he cannot promise you anything quite that nice here, he will nonetheless take you around far and wide and show and introduce you to what the duchy and the university have to offer. You will, he also thinks, admittedly have to leave elegance and splendor behind, or rather not expect to find such here, for Jena itself is a ragbag of a town, thus his opinion; but he does think that if you but bring sufficient money, things will be fine indeed. He just dictated all that to me. [9]
Another thing, my dear: you would do well to bring along in a sack the most necessary beds, as well as a cover, pillow, and cushion, also some bed linens, since a tolerable bed is the only thing difficult to lease here, otherwise one can take care of oneself quite easily here.
Will you be coming?
adieu
But there is no need to bring a bed for Line.
Notes
[*] Sources: Dorothea Schlegel und deren Söhne 1:35–37; Wieneke (1914) 322 (frag.); KFSA 25:99–100. Back.
[1] Rahel Levin’s anticipated visit to Jena never materialized. See Friedrich Schlegel’s letter to Wilhelm Schlegel on 25 August 1800 (letter 266b):
You probably already know that Madam Levi will not be coming, and is in fact probably already in Paris by way of Wesel, and hence that at least this time this bitter cup has fortunately passed us by.
Rahel Levin had left Berlin in mid-July as the companion to Caroline von Schlabrendorf on a journey to Paris, where she remained until April 1801 (KFSA 25:447fn1). Back.
[2] Fr., “By the way, just between us.” Back.
[3] Dorothea has spoken about this potential visit in most of her letters over the winter, but Charlotte Ernst’s visit never materialized. Rahel Levin had made Charlotte Ernst’s acquaintance in Dresden during the summer of 1798. Back.
[4] Line Brack, Rahel Levin’s maidservant, to whom Dorothea owed money (KFSA 25:439). Back.
[5] St. John’s day, 24 June; Michaelmas, 29 September. Back.
[6] Jena did indeed offer splendid panoramas for enjoying the beautiful surrounding area (Heinrich Schneider, Die Burschenschaft Germania zu Jena [Jena 1897], 151):
See August Jäger von Schlumb, Felix Schnabels Universitätsjahren oder Der deutsche Student. Ein Beitrag zur Sittengeschichte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart 1835), ed. Otto Julius Bierbaum (Berlin 1907), 238–40 (illustration: Jena from the northwest, ca. 1840, by Eduard Lobe; Bildrechte/-herkunft: Sammlung Jenaer Stadtansichten [Stadtmuseum Jena 13011]):
And it is indeed true: during the summer it is absolutely beautiful in Jena! The surrounding areas are charming, the change of scenery between mountains and valleys and forests and streams is unique, taking walks is an extremely pleasant pastime, and the villages and inns are all nearby and inviting even from afar!
Here a view of the Saw Mill along the Saale River ca. 1780 by Christian Gotthilf Immanuel Oehme (Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek [SLUB], Kartensammlung, Signatur/Inventar-Nr.: SLUB/KS B2446):
Here the view of Kunitz up the Saale River in a contemporary illustration by Christian Gotthilf Immanuel Oehme, Beÿ Cuniz (ca. 1780), Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden:
Here the Paper Mill at the beginning of the Mühltal just west of Jena (Christian Gotthilf Immanuel Oehme, Die Papier Mühle bey Jena [ca. 1780]; Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden):
And finally Jena’s lovely Paradies greenspace ca. 1900 (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.):
[7] Goethe left Weimar on precisely this day, 28 April 1800, and remained in Leipzig at the book fair until 16 May, where he met also with Wilhelm Schlegel on 12 May (Weimarer Ausgabe 3:2:288, 295) (Rudolf Koch and Fritz Kredel, Deutschland und angrenzende Gebiete [Leipzig 1937]):
[8] See Friedrich’s letter to Henriette Herz on 24 August 1798 (letter 202g), specifically with note 1. Back.
[9] Considering the things Dorothea has said about Caroline earlier in this letter, it is difficult to believe that Wilhelm, who was apparently in the same room at least long enough to dictate this portion of the letter, was aware of the rest of the letter. Back.
Translation © 2014 Doug Stott